I is ready. The Skunk has become a Skank. Lots of chitter chatter on here about music and movies and whatever else intrigues/baffles/annoys me.

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Supermachiner "I Am Legend"

The irrepresible (is that even right? Ah well, no time to check) DevinIntervention (I'll add a link here if he ever gets a blog/website or some such thing going) was discussing some Lost Gems, albums he'd forgotten about, and I got in on the action, and I seriously doubt that more than 25 people downloaded my pick, so I thought I'd share the link here, no sense in it going to waste.

{The following is shamelessly reposted from elsewhere}I think it was 2nd, 3rd, year of college, my best friend moved away to go to school. When he came back, things were different, we were different, and we've never really been close since. When he first got back, though, I made the effort. I told him to make me a Mix Tape of what he'd been listening to, as an attempt to re-connect. The tape assured me of one sure thing, and that is that we were driving in opposite directions of what we were into, he was firmly barreling down the road of hardcore/metal, where I was pretty happily discovering Built To Spill, The Flaming Lips, and Quasi. But, two bands on the tape he made me really stood out, in talent as much as in the difference between them and the rest of the music. The first band is Godspeed You Black Emperor! whom everybody knows (but I didn't, at least, back then) and the other was Supermachiner.

So, I was completely blown away by Supermachiner, sounding like a huger, more vicious Mogwai in the quiet-to-loud style of atmospheric rock. I thought I was pretty smart in ordering it for myself, thinking "I'm just not into that whole hardcore/metal scene" this is the kind of music that I like. So, while waiting the absoultely ridiculous 8 months it took to order it in, I learned something about Supermachiner, that they were, in fact, Kurt Ballou and Jason Bannon, the two main guys from hardcore/metal legends Converge. It helped to teach me that you can never really write off any genre, that there's goodness in everything, you can't make blanket statements like "Metal sucks, Rap sucks, Country sucks". There's always something good, there, if you just look.{End of reposting}

The album, on the whole is pretty stellar. It's really atmospheric, lots of instrumentals, crickets, background voices, but it separates from the rest of the atmospheric, instrumental kind of stuff (Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You Black Emperor!) with its absoultely crushing power. The guitars will come in, like on this song, almost out of nowhere, and just punish your ears. Metal may not really be my bag as a genre, right now, but I can appreciate something like this, organized chaos to punctuate the whispers. This is meant to be listened to late at night on headphones, or in the car.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

clicking on this and that has brought me here, not quite sure if i am even in your actual blogger or not, however this old post has sparked my intrest, if anyone out there or the author themself could please help me find this origin please email me the correct link,, kawtdead@hotmail.com I liked your review btw. I am such a monkey when it comes to soundbytes, but "bittercold" is thst from a movie? and if so what one? It just seems so familar but in the 5 years i have had this album i still have yet to know for sure. like i said im lost so if someone could please email me the link, to here, my nowhere, id appreciate it. ty

PLEASE PLEASE will you re-up this? I am DYING for this Supermachiner record. I can hook you up with something for your trouble... message me @ myspace.com/saveyrgeneration - OR - saveyrgeneration AT yahoo DOT com